This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

Saturday, 28 August 2010

The Three Grades of Fasting

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following are
adapted from the excerpts of Imam al-Ghazali's (r.a.) “Inner Dimensions of
Worship.” The entire Inner Dimensions of
Worship are themselves extracted from Imam al-Ghazali's (r.a.) magnus opus, Ihya’ ‘Ulum ad-Din, “The Revival of the
Religious Sciences.”

It should be known
that there are three grades of fasting: ordinary, special and
extra-special. Ordinary fasting means
abstaining from food, drink and sexual satisfaction. Special fasting means keeping one's ears,
eyes, tongue, hands and feet-and all other organs free from sin. Extra-special fasting means fasting of the
heart from unworthy concerns and worldly thoughts, in total disregard of
everything but Allah (s.w.t.).

A chaste regard,
restrained from viewing anything that is blameworthy or reprehensible, or which
distracts the heart and diverts it from the remembrance of Allah (s.w.t.).
The Prophet (s.a.w.) said,
“The furtive glance is one of the poisoned arrows of Satan, on him be God's
Curse. Whoever forsakes it for fear of
Allah (s.w.t.), will Receive from
Him, a faith, the sweetness of which he will find within his heart.”

Guarding one’s
tongue from twaddle, lying, backbiting, scandal-mongering, obscenity, rudeness,
wrangling and controversy; making it observe silence and occupying it with
remembrance of Allah (s.w.t.) and
with recitation of the Qur’an; this is the fasting of the tongue. Imam Sufyan (r.a.) said, “Backbiting vitiates the fast.”

The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “Fasting is a shield; so
when one of you is fasting he should not use foul or foolish talk. If someone attacks him or insults him, let
him say, ‘I am fasting, I am fasting!’”

Closing one's ears
to everything reprehensible; for everything unlawful to utter is likewise
unlawful to listen to. That is why Allah
(s.w.t.) Equated the eavesdropper
with the profiteer.

Keep all other limbs
and organs away from sin: the hands and feet from reprehensible deeds, and the
stomach from questionable food at the time for breaking fast. It is meaningless to fast, to abstain from lawful
food, only to break ones’ fast on what is unlawful. The object of fasting is to induce
moderation. The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “How many of those who
fast, get nothing from it but hunger and thirst!” Of what use is the fast as a means of
conquering Allah’s (s.w.t.) enemy and
abating appetite, if at the time of breaking it not only makes up for all one
has missed during the daytime, but perhaps also indulges in a variety of extra
foods?

It has even become
the custom to stock up for Ramadhan with all kinds of foodstuffs, so that more
is consumed during that time than in the course of several other months put
together. It is well known that the
object of fasting is to experience hunger and to check desire, in order to
reinforce the soul in piety. If the
stomach is starved from early morning until evening, so that it's appetite is
aroused and it's craving intensified, and it is then offered delicacies and
allowed to eat its fill, its taste for pleasure is increased and its force exaggerated;
passions are activated which would have lain dormant under normal conditions. It is therefore essential to cut down one’s
intake of what one would consume on a normal night, when not fasting. No benefit is derived from the fast if one
consumes as much as he or she would usually take during the day and night
combined.

After the fast has
been broken, the heart should swing like a pendulum between fear and hope. For one does not know if one's fast will be
accepted, so that one will find favour with Allah (s.w.t.), or whether it will be rejected, leaving one among those He
Abhors. This is how one should be at the
end of any act of worship one performs.